Grip for golf clubs



Feb. 15,1927.

R. s. WALLACE GRIP FOR GOLF CLUBS Filed Aug. 26, 1925 Ede 72E the invention, in strip or showing a golf club ble fastening means threads 4, 4.

ad esive may be applied Patented Feb. 15, 1927.

UNITED STATES ROBERT S. WALLACE, OF FITCHBURG, MASSA HUSETTS.

GRIP FOB GOLF CLUBS.

Application filed August 26, 1825. Serial No. 52,686.

"The resent invention relates to new and useful improvements in grips for the shafts or handles of golf clubs and similar articles. The invention resides, primarily, in the provision of a grip which is easy of application to the shaft or handle, and which is. more durable and affords a better hand-hold than the spirally wound leather gripsnow ordinarily used for golf clubs. Other and further objects of the invention will be made apparent by the scription, reference being had in connection therewith to the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a large scale view showing a woven fabric, applicable to the purposes of web form to adapt it for spiral winding on a golf club shaft or handle.

Fi 2 is a side view, partly in section,

shaft or handle equipped with the spirally wound fabric grip. Fig.3 is a view showing a piece of woven fabric, similar to the fabric shown in Fig. 1, and of sufiicient width to wrap peripherally around the shaft, in connection with suitafor the meeting longitudinal edges of said piece.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2, showing the application of the grip shown in Fig. 3 to a golf club shaft or handle.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view, showing the same or similar fabric woven in seamless tubular form, and adapted to be received upon the shaft or handle of a golf club.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the different'figures.

Referring first to Fig. 1, the strip or web 1 therein-shown is preferably a woven cotton fabric, in which shown at 2, and the web strands, shown at 3, are constituted by a plurality of braided Such a web 1, according to the invention, is readily susceptible of being spirally wound in precisely the same, manner as the strips of leather, now generally employed, on a golf club shaft or handle, such as 5; the grip at opposite ends is secured in any suitable manner, as by the usual windin 6, 6 of thread or cord, and a suitable to the inner surface of the web 1 to unite it either to the material of the shaft, or to a suitable interposed filling or cushioning material, not shown, or if de sired, to the usual leather grip with which following detailed de-' both the warp strands,-

the shaft is equipped if the latter has not been removed.

A grip such as above described for a golf I club shaft or handle affords a very superior hand-hold for the user of the club, the woven cotton fabric presenting a surface of sufficient roughness to prevent slippage in the hands, while at the same time being of sufih cient softness to avoid injury or chafing of the hands. The grip is extremely durable, because even if one or more of the threads 4, 4 becomes severed or frayed no unravelling of the fabric can possibly take place; this is due to the fact, as above set forth, that each warp strand 2 and each weft strand 3 is made u of a plurality of threads 4, fall mutually braided together.

The same advantages are possessed by the woven fabric grip shown in Figs. 3 and 4, said grip being made from a piece 8 of similar woven cotton fabric which is of sufficient width to wrap peripherally around the gether, to form a straight longitudinal seam 9 when the grip is in place on the shaft; as here shown, by way of example, said edges are equipped with the well known metallic interlacing devices 10, 10, of the type shown and described in United States LettersPatcut to Snndback, No. 1,236,783, issued August 14, 1917, in the use of which a fastening member 11 is moved in one direction to cause interlocking of the devices 10, 10, and in the other direction to release said devices from each other. In a grip so constructed, the seam 9, whether it be formed in the manner above described, or by lacing, or in any other way,'can be so located on the shaft of the club as not to interfere with the handhold obtained by the user; in other words, the location of said seam is so chosen that the contact of the users hands and fingers with the grip will be confined to the woven cotton fabric.

A further modification of the invention, shown in Fig. 5 involves the use of the same or a similar cotton fabric, having strands made of braided thread and woven in the form of a seamless tube 12, the latter being preferably tapered to conform to the taper of the shaft 5 of the golf club. Such tube 12 may be fitted over the shaft from the smaller and of the latter before the club I do not claim broadly the invention of' a seamless tubular grip, nor that I am the first to provide a handle covering of a textile material, such last being shown, for instance in the knitted whip handle covering of United States Letters Patent N 0. 60,606 of December 18, 1866, issued to one Woodbury.

It is apparent that the loosely knit covering of said Woodbury patent is in no sense the equivalent of the closely woven multiplethread covering of my invention, nor would said knitted covering of Woodbury be susce tible of use as a satisfactory golf club grip, and therefore What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. As a new article of manufacture, a golf club grip made of a fabric of closely interwoven strands, each of said strands being constituted by a pluralit of braided threads. 2. As a new article 0 manufacture, a golf club grip made from a and weft strands are closely interwoven in seamless tubular form. A

a new article of manufacture, a golf club grip in the form of seamless tubular woven fabric, said fabric consisting of closely interwoven each constituted threads. A

4. As a new article of manufacture, a golf club grip, consisting of a fabric of warp and weft strands closely interwoven in seamless tubular form, of

fit over the end of the shaft of the club, and

adapted, when longitudinally stretched, to.

conform itself to the taper of said shaft.

5. As a new article of manufacture, a golf club grip, consisting of a fabric of warp and weft strands closely interwoven in seamless tubular form, of an internal diameter corresponding substantially to the'end of the shaft of the club, and adapted, when longitudinallgr stretched, to conform itself to the taper 0 said; shaft, and means for securmg said grip, at its ends, to said shaft.

- ROBERT s. WALLACE.

warp and weft strands, by a plurality of braided suflicient diameter to' fabric whose warp 

